Direct salting system for water softeners



United States Patent f) DIRECT SALTING SYSTEM FOR WATER SOFTENERS This invention relates to regeneration of Water softeners and particularly to a direct salting system for water softeners. The present system is extremely simple to operate and may be produced at a low cost.

The valving provided in the past for regenerating water softeners generally defied mastery by the home owner and, as a result, most water softeners are serviced by specialists. In some instances, the art has undertaken to provide automatic valving for accomplishing regeneration, but this valving was quite complicated and costly. The present system is extremely simple and reliable and may be produced at a low'cost. The system may be operated readily by the home owner and does not require his attention except for a few minutes at the start of regeneration. An added advantage of the present syste'rn' is that at no time during regeneration is the house line cut olf from a supply of water. Thus, during the regenerationoperation, the house line is automatically connected 'to the hard water line and on completion of regeneration the house line is automatically returned to its normal connection to the water softener.

- l'he principal object of this invention is to provide a simple, direct salting system for water softeners.

Another object of this invention is to provide a direct salting system for watersofteners which approaches fully automatic operation as nearly as is believed compatible with holding the limits.

-Other objects and advantages will be pointed out in, or be apparent from, the specification and claims, as will obvious modifications of the single embodiment shown in the drawings-in whichz Fig. 1 is a schematic showing of the present system in service;

. .Eig. .2.is a schematic showing of the backwashing operation? a Figl j :fa schematic drawing of the valving arrangement while salting the softener tank;

.JEig. Q14 is a 'schematic'showing of the rinse operation;

r, n, I v

Fig. 5 is a view, partly in section, showing a clock controlled three-way valve employed at the outlet of the water softener. The details of this valve form no part of the present invention and are separately claimed in the co-pending application of Alfery et al., Serial No. 404,730 and now Patent Number 2,852,072 dated Sep tember 16, 1958.

Referring to Fig. 1 in detail it will be noted that the hard water line is connected to manually operated three-way valve 12 which normally directs the flow into inlet 14 of the downfiow water softener 16. Outlet line 18 is connected to the. inlet of clock controlled three-way valve 20 which normally directs flow into house line 22. By-pass conduit 24 is connected between the service line 10 and house line 22, but is provided with valve 26 which normally prevents flow therethrough. Valve 26 is provided with spring 28 holding the valve shut until the pressure differential between the inlet and outlet of valve 26 exceeds the normal pressure drop through the water softener. Therefore, valve 26 will normally remain closed. If, however, normal flow through the softener is prevented, the pressure diiferential across valve 26 will increase sufficiently to open the valve and allow hard water to flow directly from line 10 to house line 22.

This feature is employed during the backwashing operation illustrated in Fig. 2. In this figure three-way valve 12 has been manually turned to connect the softener inlet 14 to drain 30. Valve 20 remains in its normal position and the pressure differential across automatic valve 26 will now be suflicient to open the valve and allow flow of hard water to pass through bypass conduit 24, valve 20 and outlet 18 to backwash softener 16 as the water flows out through inlet 14, valve 12 and into drain line 30.

Upon completion of the backwashing operation, which takes a very short time, the manually operated threeway valve 12 is left in the position it occupied during the backwashing operation and clock controlled valve 20 is now manipulated to turn the valve to connect outlet 18 to waste line 32. There can now be no water flow through the softener from the hard water or house lines. At this time the top 34 of the softener 16 may be opened and the prescribed quantity of salt is dumped in the top cost of the system within reasonable opening. During this short period of time, should any of the house valves be opened, pressure responsive valve 26 will open to supply hard water to house line 22, bypassing the water softener.

After the salt has been added to the top of softener 16, lid 34 is closed and three-way valve lz'is returned. to its normal position as shown in Fig. 4. This connects the inlet 14 to the hard water line 10 and the water flows down through the softener outlet 18, valve 20 and into the waste line 32. .This flow will continue for the period of time set by the clock controlling valve 20. During this time, should the soft water faucets in the house be opened, automatic valve 26 will open as shown in Fig. 4 to bypass the water softener and supplyihard' water to the house lines. At the ,end of the selected period of time, clock controlledvalve 2 0 returns to its normal position (shown in Fig. 1) to stop the rinse cycle. Immediately upon'thisoccurrence, the pressure differ} ential across automatic valve 26 will' fall below that required to open the valve and spring 28 will seat the valve and prevent any further bypassing of the water softener; From the above description, it will be appreciated that the home owner need attend to the regeneration of the water softener for only a short period of time since the long portion of the cycle, that is the rinse portion, is automatically timed by the clock regulated valve 20. The backwashing and direct salting of the softener-take b'uti'a few minutes and it will be apparent that the manipulation of valves is held to a minimum. Thus, at the start of the backwashing operation, the manually operated three-way valve is turned to the position shown in Fig. 2. At the end of the backwashing, the clock controlled valve may be turned on and the time cycle started, making due allowance for the period of time re quired to add the salt to the softener. After adding the salt, the manually operated valve 12 is returned to its normal position and the water softener requires no further attention since the clock valve will return it to normal operation at the end of the rinse cycle.

It will be readily appreciated that a manually operated three-Way valve can be used in place of the clock controlled valve 20, but this would, of course, lose some of the desirable features with respect to the amount of attention required during regeneration of the water softener. [[n Fig. 5 I show, partly in section, a three-way valve which performs well in this system. Other clock controlled three-way valves could no doubt be' used. The

present structure is shown principally by way of making a full disclosure of an operative system. In the illustrated valve a clock mechanism is contained within casing'36 and drives shaft 38 which carries cams 40, 42 which regulate movement ofa cam follower mounted on rotary shaft 44 which projects through partition wall 46 into chamber 48. The shaft carries a valve 50 which is normally closed, but will be opened when the knob 52 is turned to a selected time. It will be noted that chamber 48 communicates with valve inlet 54 through bore '6. The valve inlet is, of course, connected to the water softener outlet 18. The pressure in chamber 48 is the same as that in valve inlet 54 and, therefore, spring 58 acting on diaphragm pad 60 acts to hold valve 62 open so the flow from the inlet 54 passes valve 62 and goes into house line 22. When the clock mechanism is manipulated to open valve 50 for the selected period of time the pressure in chamber 48 drops below that in inlet 54 due to the restricted size of bore 56 connecting the two chambers. Therefore, the pressure on the underside of diaphragm 64 is greater than the pressure above the diaphragm and acts to overcome spring 58 to close valve 62 against seat 66. The position of the valve just described is that occupied during the rinse portion of the regeneration operation, It might be well to note that spring 58 should have sufficient strength to resist closure of valve 62 when the flow past valve 62 is reversed during the backwashing operation.

From the above description of clock controlled valve 20, it will be appreciated that the valve itself does not take the form of a three-way valve, but does operate as a three-way valve. The clock operation permits the home owner to leave the premises or go to bed after starting the regeneration. The employment of the automatic valve 26 in a bypass conduit is largely responsible for the simplicity of the valving arrangement here employed.

Although but one embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or from the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a direct salting water softener system the combination of, a softener tank having an inlet and an outlet, a manually operable three-way valve connected to said inlet, a hard water line and a drain line connected to said manual valve, said manual valve adapted to connect said inlet to either said hard water or drain line, a clock controlled three-way valve connected to said outlet, a house line and a waste line connected to said clock controlled valve, said clock controlled valve adapted to normally connect said outlet with said house line and further adapted to connect said outlet with said waste line for a pre-selected period of time and to then restore the connection to said house line, a bypass conduit interconnecting said hard water and house lines, and a pressure responsive valve in said bypass conduit, said pressure responsive valve adapted to automatically open and pass water from said hard water line through said clock con trolled valve to said tank outlet for backwashing said tank when said manual three-way valve is actuated to connect said tank inlet to said drain line, said pressure responsive valve further adapted to open during the rinse or direct salting operations it the house line is opened to thereby insure water pressure in the house at all times.

2. In a direct salting water softener system providing a normal service operation, a baokwashing operation, a direct salting operation, and a rinse operation, the combination of; a softener tank having an inlet and an outlet, a hard water line connected to said tank inlet, a manually operable three-way valve in said hard water line, said manual three-way valve adapted in one position to allow fluid flow from said hard water line through said valve to said tank inlet for said normal service operation and for said rinse operation, said manuel three-way valve also adapted when actuated to a second position to allow fluid flow from said tank inlet through said valve and out to a drain for said backwashing operation, a house line connected to said tank outlet, a clock controlled three-way valve in said house line, said clock'controlled valve adapted in one position to allow fluid flow from said tank outlet through said valve to said house line for said normal service operation and to allow reverse flow through said valve to said (tank outlet for said backwashing operation, said clock controlled valve further adapted when actuated to a second position to allow flow from said tank outlet through said valve to a drain for a preselected period of time for said rinse operation'and then to return to its first position to restore communication of said tank outlet with said house line for normal service operation, a bypass conduit interconnecting said hard water, and house lines, and a pressure responsive valve in said bypass conduit, said pressure responsive valve adapted to automatically open and allow fluid flow therethrough from said hard water line through said clock controlled valve to said tank outlet for said backwashing operation when said manually operable three-way valve is actuated to said second position to allow fluid flow from said tank inlet through said valve and out to a drain, said pressure responsive valve'further adapted 'to open during said rinse or direct salting operations if the house line is opened to thereby insure water pressure in the house at all times.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Jay .L. June 5, 1956 

